Machine for making steel balls



(No Model.) Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. H. WRIGHT. MACHINE FOR MAKING STEEL BALLS.

No. 489,713. Patented N0v.4, 1890.

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(No Modeh) 2 SheetsSheet 2. W. H WRIGHT. MACHINE FOR MAKING STEEL BALLS.

No. 439,713. Patented Nov. 4,1890.

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Attorney.

lfsldfl/ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM H. WRIGHT, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

MACHINE FOR MAKING STEEL BALLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,713, dated November 4, 1890.

Application filed May 27, 1890.

To (ZZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, XVILLIAM H. WRIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Steel Balls, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a machine for rapidly and perfectly forming and compressing steel balls, all of which will be fully and clearly hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine complete, one of the side-adjusting screw brackets or holders being omitted. Fig. 2 is a top plan view. Fig. 3 is an enlarged front elevation of one of the die-holding disks, showing the die-holder and die in position thereon and the means for securing and adj usting the same. Fig. 4 is an edge View of one of the die-holding disks, showing a top view of the die-holder and a similar view of the die in position thereon. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation cutting through the die-holding disk and die-holder in line a b, Fig. 3. Fig.6 is a detached front elevation of the die-holder, a small portion being in section to show the adjusting-screw. Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation of a portion of the die-holder, the die, and one of its holding devices.

The frame 1 of the machine is very heavy and is made, preferably, of cast-iron in one solid piece. The legs 2 are also of cast-iron and secured to the supporting-frame 1 by the ordinary bolts or in any well-known way. Four square boxes 3 are fitted into recesses in the top of the frame adapted to receive them and are kept rigidlyin place by the caps 4E and bolts 4:. In each of the square boxes 3 is a large tapering opening 5, into each of which is fitted a box 6, having an opening 7 through one side, so as to permit it to be slightly opened or forced together. These boxes 6 are made tapering on the outside, so as to correspond exactly with the taper of the opening through the boxes 3. Each of the tapering boxes 6 is provided with an opening through it adapted to receive and act as a journal for the die-shafts 8, and at the end of each tapering box outside of the frame 1 Serial No. 368,306. (No model.)

is a screw portion 9, on which is mounted a nut 10, having a series of holes 11 in its periphery, by which the nuts are turned by the usual wrench for such purposes.

It will be seen from the above description that the tapering boxes 6 may be either tightened or loosened on the shafts 8 by means of the nuts 10, which may either draw the boxes 6 into the tapering seats or loosen them. This construction affords a ready means for keeping the boxes tight as they wear away, and also for keeping the shaft in a central position as it is adjusted.

At the back of the frame is asupplementary frame-piece 12, secured to the main frame by bolts 13. The object of this frame-piece 12 is to provide a bearing 14.for one end of the driving-shaft 15, the other end being supported in a bearing 16. (See Fig. 2.) This supplementary frame-piece 12 is also provided with tightening bolts or screws 17 for adj usting the shafts 8 longitudinally. At the opposite side of the frame 1 are secured by bolts 18 two cap-pieces or supporting-brackets 19, which are provided with set-screws 20, to act in connection with the tightening-bolts or setscrews 17 in adjusting the two shafts 8 longitudinally.

Between the side of the main frame 1 and the supplementary frame 12 is mounted on the shafts 8 two spur gear-wheels 2lone on each shaftand rigidly secured thereto by the usual key or other well-known means, and between the gear-wheels 21 is rigidly secured to the shaft 15, so as to engage with said wheels, a pinion 22. There is also mounted and rigidly secured on the shaft 15 afly-wheel 23 and a tight and loose pulley 24 and 25 for driving the machine. The object of this construction is to afford the means for driving the die-holding disks 26, which are mounted so that their peripheries will be directly opposite each other and rigidly secured to the shafts 8. At the front side of each disk 26 is a dovetail opening 27, passing entirely across the face of the same, and within the opening 27 is nicely fitted the die-holder 28. This die-holder 28 is preferably made of steel and is adapted to slide back and forth in its seat. It is provided at the top with a raised rib or backing 29, against which the back of the die rests when secured in position, (see Figs. 4,

6, and 7,) and is also provided with an enlarged portion or boss 30, through which a screw 31 passes. (See Fig. 6, where this boss is shown in section.) It is also shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, same sheet.

In Fig. 5 the hub 26 of the disk 26 is omitted, so as to show more clearly the dieholder 28 and the hole 32, through which the screw 31 passes. This screw 31 forms a portion of the bar 33, which passes across the face of the disk through the hub, and the screw portion engages with an intern a1 screwthread in the die-holder. It is kept from moving longitudinally by means of two collars 34 and 35, the collar 34 being rigidly secured to the bar 33, and the collar 35 is secured thereto by a set-screw 36. The collars 34 and 35, resting on opposite sides of the hub 26, prevent the bar 33 from moving longitudinally. The bar 33 is mounted in a hearing 37 011 the disk 26, and held rigidly by a set-screw 36 when adjusted, and is provided with a hexigon or square wrench-section 38, by which it may be turned by a common wrench, so as to adj nst the die-holder and die back and forth. At the top or periphery of the die-holder is a raised flange 29, against which the back of the die rests when in place. (See Figs. 4, 6, and 7.) The dies 40 are arranged one on each disk, as shown, so that their rear sides rest against the side of the flanges 29. At the front of each die is a curved side-projecting flange 41, and at the front of each die-holder is a series of recesses 42, into which the lower hook-shaped ends of the clamping-pieces 43 lit, so that their upper ends clasp over the flange 41. These clamping-pieces are each secured by a screwbolt 44, so that when they are all screwed up tightly the dies are held rigidly in place. A steel pin (shown by the dotted lines 46 in Fig. 3) prevents them from shifting orheinginoved longitudinally. The dies are in the form of a circular groove which commences at the small point 47, extending longitudinally and gradually enlarging and deepening from the point to the rear 48 until it terminates in a semicircular groove 49 at or near the rear end of the groove. These dies are capable of adjustment by means of the screw-bar 33, as before mentioned, and they can be adjusted laterally by means of the screw-bolts 17 and 20, as hereinbefore described.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The machine being put in motion and the end of abar of steel (preferablya round bar) being inserted between them, substantially as shown by the dotted lines at e in Fig. 1, while the forward or lowest ends of the dies are directly opposite each other, as the dies turn with the disks 26 they pass each other and gradually come closer together until the heels of each die are directly opposite each other and meet. During this operation a ball is cut off and rolled into a spherical form. The perfectly-formed ball being now out off from the bar, it is pushed forward to the dies, as before mentioned, and as the dies revolve the operation is repeated.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a ball-making machine, the combination of two die-holding disks mounted on shafts set in bearings in a suitable frame, each shaft being provided with a spur-wheel, the two engaging with a pinion, so that both disks move in the same direction, an outwardly-curved (lie mounted on each disk, each having a longitudinal ball forming groove commencing at a point and terminating in a semicircle at its rear end, and mechanism, substantially as described, for giving the disks a rotary motion, whereby while the dies are moving by each other with the end of a steel bar between a perfect ball is gradually formed and cut off, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for making steel balls, the combination of a die-holding disk provided with a slideway across its face and a hub within the slideway, havinga transverse opening through it, a die-holderadaptcd to slide in said slideway, provided with enlarged portion having an interior screw thread, a shaft adapted to pass through the transverse opening through the hub of the disk and having collars to prevent it from moving longitudinally therein, a screw-thread on one end of the shaft adapted to fit the interior screwthread in the die-holder, and a wrench-section and a bearing 011 the disk in which it turns at the opposite end of the shaft, whereby the adjustment of the die is effected, sub stantially as described.

3. In a machine for making steel balls, the combination, with the sliding die-holder, of a shoulder on the periphery of the same against which the back of the die rests when in place, a series of openings arranged in a curve near the periphery of the die-holder, and a corre sponding series of clamping-bars, the clamping-jaws of which fit in said openings in the disks and the clamping-jaws at the opposite end rest over the flange on the die for holding the die to the die-holder, substantially as described.

WILLIAM H. WRIGHT.

Witnesses:

J AMES SANGSTER, J. E. \VEesrER.

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